We are not settling scores with the Republic: PM Erdoğan

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Hürriyet Daily News photo by Selahattin Sönmez

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that his party is not settling scores when making comparisons between his tenure and the pre-Justice and Development Party (AKP) period.

“Everybody should know that we never settle scores [with the Republic]. Rather, we are showing what we have done for our Republic, which was founded in 1923,” Erdoğan said during a parliamentary debate on the 2013 budget.  

According to Erdoğan, some are questioning why previous governments could not achieve the AKP’s successes when making comparisons about the economic situation between the pre-AKP and AKP periods.

“Unfortunately, Turkey’s potential was not used after the passing of Mustafa Kemal, with a few exceptional periods. Turkey’s energy, excitement and rich resources were wasted with unnecessary [military] interventions,” the Turkish premier said.

“When we are saying we achieved record-high numbers in the history of the Republic, we see all of them as an aspect of the Republic. Of course we appreciate what has been done in the 79 years before 2002 [when the AKP came to power]. But we have to question this boldly. Didn’t Turkey deserve much more?”

Recalling that Germany and Japan became the world’s biggest economies despite their total collapse in 1945, Erdoğan said that Turkey had been similarly dealing with its internal conflicts and military coups throughout time.

“The cost of the e-memorandum of 2007 alone was $2 billion for Turkey via interest yields. Think about the cost of the post-modern coup of 1997 and the military coups of 1960, 1971 and 1980. Turkey would have been one of the 10 biggest economies of the world years ago if those interruptions had not happened,” Erdoğan said.